


For Mog

by Lumau



Category: Nevermoor Series - Jessica Townsend
Genre: Angst, Book 3: Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow, Emotional Manipulation, Gen, Hollowpox spoilers, emotional blackmail, mention of Abusive Relationship dynamics, no physical violence or sexual content, non-consensual dominance, post hollowpox
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:21:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27598838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lumau/pseuds/Lumau
Summary: *******************************************major Hollowpox spoilers in the text- seriously, be warned!Don't read if you haven't read Hollowpox*******************************************Set right after the end of HollowpoxEzra Squall pays Jupiter a visit, who finds himself caught between his past and future.I'm not actually shipping them... XD This seemed an interesting situation to explore a different power dynamic and let poor Jupidad suffer a bit.
Relationships: Jupiter North / Ezra Squall, jupisquall
Comments: 7
Kudos: 18





	For Mog

Upon entering his private parlour, Jupiter could immediately tell something was off. The room was bathed in the dim silver light of the moon, but there were strange traces and another glow, golden, subtle, like tiny fireflies caught in the shimmering spiderweb of the Gossamer. A sudden recognition sent his body and mind into a state of alarm. 

“What do you want?” he quietly asked the darkness that was hiding outside the reach of the moonlight.

There was no answer, but a shifting of shadows and glittering threads, and as Ezra Squall stepped into the light, Jupiter almost managed not to flinch.

The silver figure of the Wundersmith did not cast a shadow. He moved slowly, with confident deliberation, the cold eyes fixed on Jupiter, a slightly crooked grin on his face. Jupiter forced himself to hold the gaze.  
Squall stopped a few feet away from him, and held out his hand, as if offering it to Jupiter to shake it. Then he let it drop again with a short, humourless laugh.  
“Silly me!” he exclaimed, “Of course we are way beyond formal courtesies.” He moved forward and pretended to plant a kiss on each of Jupiter’s cheeks, while his hand simply fell through his shoulder. Jupiter jumped back briskly and scowled at the image of Squall, much to his amusement. 

“My, my, I would have hoped for a friendlier welcome! After all it has been quite a while since we’ve last seen each other.”  
“What do you want?” Jupiter hissed again through gritted teeth.  
Squall sighed. “Right away to business, then. As you wish, Captain North. I am here to make another deal.”  
“Another deal?”  
“Quite right. Since our last little collaboration I have waited for another opportunity to make business with you. You are ever so useful after all.”  
Jupiter snorted in disbelief. “Are you mad? Why would I? With everything that happened in the last years? I said I wouldn’t do this anymore!”

Squall shook his head with a sad look on his face and started slowly pacing the room. Jupiter could feel his heart beat in his throat and his hands clenching into fists. He deliberately forced himself to relax them and take a deep breath. He couldn’t show any weakness.

“Dear me, that you still believe that you should have any choice in the matter!” The Wundersmith turned back to fixate him with his grey eyes. “Without me you would be nothing. Look at you today, Captain Jupiter Amantius North. How many years has it been? 18? Still as ridiculous and silly as you were when I first met you. Just as I told our dear little Miss Crow – all style, no substance.”  
“You admit I got style then?” Jupiter tried to bring a smug look back to his face. “You can’t control me anymore! I have grown strong enough to face you.”  
“Oh, but aren’t you just adorable! How I missed playing with you, my sweet ginger puppet.” Squall chuckled, “You’re right, unlike my recent friend Henry Mildmay, you have proven yourself to your precious Society and have gained a position of considerable power in Nevermoor. Is that enough to withstand me, though?”

Jupiter could feel his whole body tense up. He fought back a fog of rage and fear that threatened to cloud over his mind. He hated that after all this time Ezra Squall could still evoke these emotions in him. He knew he could not physically hurt him, he was merely a hologram of his body when travelling on the Gossamer line. But his experience had shown him several times that that did not make the Wundersmith any less dangerous and to underestimate him, was a fatal mistake. 

“Let’s see…” Squall sounded bemused, “Get on your knees, hands behind your head. Yes, go on. You understood me quite well.” 

“Are you kidding me?” Jupiter shouted in disbelief, “Stop playing absurd mind games and tell me what you want, or better even, just get out of here.” 

“I told you already, I’m here to make a deal. You don’t seem quite open to our negotiations, so I need to establish the stakes first and show you your place. I don’t like to repeat myself, as you know. I asked nicely, and I will ask once more only. Get on your knees, hands behind your head.”

Jupiter shook his head and opened his mouth to protest again, but Squall cut him off.

“If you don’t oblige, you’ll face the consequences. I know that you are a clever boy. I can think of at least 5 reasons why you will obey me. Should I list them or can that pretty, witty head of yours come up with them for yourself?”

They stared at each other in tense silence.  
Jupiter’s thoughts were racing. He knew Ezra Squall well enough to know that he could be bluffing, but it was highly unlikely that he’d attempt anything without a strong enough foundation. What was he talking about?  
Unable to stop himself, he murmured the first thing that came to his mind. 

“Mog...”

Squall nodded encouragingly.  
Jupiter’s heart hammered with ferocious emotion.  
“Jack?” his voice came out way higher and weaker than he’d liked. “The Deucalion...”

“Good boy. I always liked that about you. You are a clever one. It’s way more fun like that. Your suffering is just so much more amusing to watch, because you understand everything clearly. Dear little Morrigan Crow. Do you really think you can keep her from me forever? And your beloved Jack. I wonder if his posh boarding school can keep the hunt out?” As on cue, the shadows in the room started to gather, red pricks of light perking up, and a low growling surrounded them.  
“And the Deucalion, the good old Wundrous hotel. Without me you wouldn’t have known where to find and how to resurrect it. And although it’s thriving now, believe me, if I wanted to, I could tear it down again in an instant. Oh, and let me just quicken this up and help you along with the other reasons why you will not say No to me.  
You know just as well as I do that information is power. And although I currently don’t hold any physical power in Nevermoor, I have enough information on hand about you and your – let’s put it nicely – rather adventurous undertakings to either topple your precious reputation that you so meticulously build over the years, and, I don’t want to brag, with a lot of my help in the background, or I could have you sent to jail for a few years. Wouldn’t that be inconvenient?  
Don’t get me wrong, I wanted you in your position, with your connections and influence, and I still do. But having put you on that throne, I also need to be able to use you, if you don’t mind.”

Jupiter’s chest was heaving and his jaw was clenched, he couldn’t say anything.

“Oh, and let’s lastly not forget your dear friend Fenestra. Due to the recent events both sides of the border have become very interested indeed in potential leaks and illegal movement to and from the Free State. I know not only where she and her smuggle ring hide the Wunimals, but also which routes they take and their contact people in the Republic.”

With an angry noise, Jupiter took a quick step forwards, as if to lunge at Squall, but instead he stopped and sank to his knees and lifted his hands behind his head, eyes ablaze. 

“You bastard!” he hissed at him, “One day you will have to pay...”

“Shut up!” Squall snarled at him, “Stop wasting my time, or I’ll change my mind and will rather choose Miss Crow as my business partner.” 

“She will never…!” 

“How long do you think can you still control her? Don’t be daft. She’s yearning for power, yearning to use her potential. Wunder is bubbling around her like lava, her little fire tricks won’t be enough for her much longer. What can you offer her that will keep her away from me? I am the only person who truly understands what it means to be her.”  
Squall started pacing again.  
“This actually, is a good point regarding our business deal, coming to think of it. Now, close your eyes.”

Jupiter stared up at him, face contorted in anger, but obliged and closed his eyes after a moment. Of course he made him close his eyes, it passed his mind - the biggest defeat of a Witness. Everyone was in awe of his powerful knack, but he had always been painfully aware of one of it’s several downsides. He actually had to be physically able to see with his eyes to make use of it. Otherwise it was completely useless.

“That’s better, I think we can do business now.” Squall’s voice came from close up and sounded amplified due to the partial sensory deprivation. “I have an offer for you, that you will very likely appreciate. And I don’t even ask for much in return.  
What I need from you is simply this – I want you to be on my side. Although I know you don’t believe me, we are not enemies. We ultimately strive for the same. We want to protect Nevermoor. And we both know, though to varying degrees, that the key to that is Miss Crow. I want you to sign a Wundrous Contract with me, vouching that you will do anything to protect Miss Crow and the city of Nevermoor as we know and love it – with your whole meagre power and even with your own life. And when you find yourself faced to choose sides, you will always choose the side that will preserve these interests. To be clear, that can - and likely will - mean that we will find ourselves allied, and you might have to stand against your precious Wundrous Society, against your friends and even against your own Unit.”

He paused to let the words sink in.  
Jupiter’s brow was furrowed. His knees where hurting, and his arms trembling. What was Squall on about?  
“You want to use that agreement to make me commit Morrigan to you as your apprentice!” He burst out in sudden realisation.

The Wundersmith laughed. “Always hypercritical! But no, you’re wrong, my dear. Here is my part of the agreement. I will vouch that from the moment we sign the contract I won’t make any more offers of that kind to Miss Crow. And I even go a step further and promise, that should she approach me on her own will, I will decline her the apprenticeship, unless she has your agreement. How does that sound? Is that not what you want?”

“I… yes, but...” Jupiter’s mind was racing. Squall was right. This was what he wanted, ever since he brought Morrigan to Nevermoor, he had wanted to protect her from the other Wundersmith. Here was his ultimate chance to do so. Only why did Squall offer it to him that readily, and could he keep his part of the promise? Wundrous Contracts were binding to the word, so he could not wriggle himself out of it again, once he signed it. He had sworn an oath, to the Society and to his Unit. But under the circumstances named by Squall – to protect Morrigan and to protect Nevermoor – would he not choose to break that oath, do anything in his power to protect them, should he have to? 

He could feel the soft, fog-like swirl of the hunt of smoke and shadow around him. Squall was completely still, waiting patiently for his decision.  
“If I sign the agreement, I want you to also vouch that you won’t use any of your blackmail threats ever again. You will leave Jack alone, and the Deucalion and Fenestra, and won’t use any information against me. Can you agree to that?” Jupiter pressed with slightly shaky voice.  
He could hear the grin in Squall’s response. “I have no interest in using any of these anymore, when you sign the contract. So yes, this I can accept. Open your eyes, you can move again.”

Jupiter hated himself for letting his body automatically respond to the anticipated relief. His arms hurt badly as he slowly lowered them, and he let himself slump onto the floor until the feeling returned to his legs. In the same instance Squall snapped his fingers and out of the swirling shapes of the hunt appeared a gleaming sheet of paper, hovering in the air. He took a sleek, golden pen from his pocket, signed one side of the contract and cast Jupiter an expectant look.

Jupiter heaved himself off the floor and with a deep sigh studied the contract. As typical for Wundrous Contracts, the words were exactly those they had agreed upon a minute ago. He closed his eyes, sighed again, and then signed his side of the contract. “For Mog,” he thought.

With a little Woosh, the contract went up in a flame and disappeared into the Gossamer. With his sight, Jupiter could still see the imprint it had left in the air. It’d stay there in the middle of his living room, a constant reminder of what might turn out to have been one of his worse decisions in the future. But Mog was safe, and Jack, and Fen… that was what mattered right now.

Squall made a hasty little bow, and turned to his hunt.  
“Always a pleasure making business with you, Captain North. Give my regards to Miss Crow.”  
And before Jupiter could answer anything, the hunt swallowed Squall up in its shadows and they all vanished into the Gossamer.

For a few moments Jupiter could just stand motionless, staring straight ahead, mind blank. Then he felt tears running down his face and let himself fall unto the next armchair. What had just happened? What had he done? And why after all these years had Squall still been able to manipulate him so effortlessly into following his schemes? 

Some time passed before he had regained his composure. He felt the sudden urge to move, to walk off the stress. He left his parlour and started pacing the nightly corridors of the Deucalion, his Deucalion.  
Automatically his feet had walked him to room 85. Hopefully Mog would be able to come home tomorrow. He missed having her around. The hotel was not the same without her anymore. Out of spite he opened the door and stopped dead in his tracks. There she was, a small figure curled up in her bed, looking way too tiny and thin after all that time she’d spent in hospital.  
Jupiter stopped himself from shouting and rushing to her, but instead tiptoed over, gently stroke her hair out of her face and took a good look at her.  
He could see that she had dragged herself here on her own from the hospital. Her feet were still cold and sore from the way. She was so tired.  
But why? He couldn’t see beyond that, whatever had caused her to run from the hospital was hidden to his more shallow vision.  
He wouldn’t poke any further, he’d ask her tomorrow. Now the only thing that counted was that she was safe, and she was back – home, with him.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> I don't even really know where this story came from... but here it is. Let me know what you think of it!
> 
> Shout out to Morrigan from Nevermoor discord for the idea of having Jupiter & Squall meet through the Gossamer!


End file.
